Texas is famous for many things, including hospitality, barbecue, whitetail deer with large antlers and oil wells. But above all, Texas has more wild pigs than any other state in the union. Feral pigs reproduce like jackrabbits. Females have up to three litters a year, with around 10 piglets each. Pigs compete with native animals such as whitetails for food and cover, and since pigs are omni-vores they also eat the eggs of birds and the young of other animals. Their rooting tears up the countryside, including crops ranging from grain to trees. Wild pigs are also smart and tasty. When hunted hard, they become difficult to approach, normally turning nocturnal. They can be hunted in just about every common way, from stands, to drives, to still-hunting, and also in many not-so-common ways.

Bill Wilson loves to hunt and especially loves to hunt pigs, which is one reason he owns the Circle WC Ranch in northeast Texas. Bill used to compete seriously in combat hand-gun shooting and eventually started building handguns for the sport. His company, Wilson Combat (the “WC” in his ranch’s name), became so successful that he quit competing and now splits his time between making firearms and hunting (mostly pigs). Because treats them as a renewable resource. This attitude isn’t common anywhere feral pigs exist in North America as most landowners see pigs as destructive varmints. However, Bill’s attitude is be-coming more common as landowners realize that those same varmints can be a profitable “crop.” These days, pigs are often cheaper to hunt than native game like deer—especially in Texas, the U.S. headquarters for trophy whitetail hunting.